Quelle: Methods, data, analyses : a journal for quantitative methods and survey methodology (mda), 13 (2019) 1, S 59-90
Inhalt: Questions on earnings are counted among sensitive topics that often produce high rates of item nonresponse or measurement error. Both types of bias are well documented in the literature and are found to concentrate in the tails of the earnings distribution. In this paper, we explore whether measurement error on earnings could be explained by socially desirable
reporting and whether the error is impacted by interviewer characteristics. Using the linked dataset NEPS-SC6-ADIAB, which contains survey data from the German National Educational Panel Study, Starting Cohort "Adults", linked to administrative earnings records from the German Federal Employment Agency, we analyze the extents of over- and underreporting and the influence of respondent and interviewer characteristics on these behaviors for different quartiles of the earnings distribution. Our results show that the average level of misreporting is relatively low (approximately 6% of median earnings). Our main logistic model reveals that female and more highly educated respondents report significantly more accurately while those with higher earnings misreport to a significantly greater extent. Regarding the impact of personality traits on reporting accuracy, we find significant positive effects for more agreeable respondents and significant negative effects for extraverted respondents. When differentiating by the direction of misreporting, we find, for instance, that women are less likely to overreport across all earnings quartiles. However, the influence of interviewer characteristics is negligible.
Non-Randomized Response Models: An Experimental Application of the Triangular Model as an Indirect Questioning Method for Sensitive Topics
Autor/in:
Erdmann, Anke
Quelle: Methods, data, analyses : a journal for quantitative methods and survey methodology (mda), 13 (2019) 1, S 139-167
Inhalt: When it comes to sensitive questions, data is often affected by bias due to non-response or effects of social desirability. Several methods have been introduced to eliminate answer bias by using randomization processes and probabilistic theory to obscure the respondent’s answer and create anonymity, thus facilitating honest answers. The probably most traditional method is the Randomized Response Technique by Warner (1965). However, this method is loaded with certain disadvantages. Therefore, in the last decade, newer methods were introduced that aim at balancing the disadvantages and weaknesses of previous methods, for instance, the non-randomized models Crosswise Model and Triangular Model (Yu et al. 2008) as well as the Parallel Model (Tian 2014). Although especially the Triangular Model is easy to implement in a study, there is only little empirical evidence on its application in different survey modes and populations. Further, it is to assume that certain questions are not equally sensitive for everybody due to specific personal characteristics. Thus, indirect questioning might not be effective in general but only for certain populations. The present study extends prior work on the Triangular Model by evaluating it for different subgroups. The conducted experiment asks for sensitive characteristics in the context of mental stress among students. The Triangular Model achieves significantly higher percentages than conventional direct questioning for illegal drug use among persons that answer socially desirable according to the characteristic of Self-Deception. For the other analyzed subgroups (Impression Management, gender, and depressiveness), the Triangular Model could not achieve higher prevalence rates compared to direct questioning on a sufficient probability level. But still, hard evidence on the effectiveness of indirect questioning models is thin and further critical discussion is needed.
Schlagwörter:Umfrageforschung; survey research; Datengewinnung; data capture; Datenqualität; data quality; Antwortverhalten; response behavior; soziale Erwünschtheit; social desirability; Anonymität; anonymity; psychische Gesundheit; mental health; Drogenkonsum; drug use; Triangular Model; Indirect Questioning; Survey Methodology; Non-Randomized Response
SSOAR Kategorie:Erhebungstechniken und Analysetechniken der Sozialwissenschaften
Gender of interviewer effects in a multitopic centralized CATI panel survey
Autor/in:
Lipps, Oliver; Lutz, Georg
Quelle: Methods, data, analyses : a journal for quantitative methods and survey methodology (mda), 11 (2017) 1, S 67-86
Inhalt: "This paper is motivated by two recent articles which show that numerous studies which analyzed
gender of interviewer effects did not take interviewer nonresponse selection effects into account. For example, interviewers may be more successful at recruiting respondents with characteristics similar to themselves and who give answers that are similar to their own, and this may result in spurious gender of interviewer effects. Our research is novel because it uses data from a large panel survey in which the same respondent is asked the same questions repeatedly by interviewers of random genders using the centralized telephone
mode. We use the panel design to show the importance of checking for all relevant variables in models where selection may cause bias. To this end, we use respondent fixed effects models as a reference to yield unbiased coefficients. We find gender of interviewer effects that are in line with social desirability theory on gender issues such as female discrimination. However, not all gender-related questions are affected by gender of interviewer effects and, in addition, we do not find any effects on political and (factual) household task related questions. In line with the notion of social distance, there is a higher likelihood that answers respondents are less comfortable with are given to interviewers of the same gender regarding (sensitive) health questions." (author's abstract)
Titelübersetzung:Social presence in online surveys
Autor/in:
Schmidt-Catran, Alexander W.; Hörstermann, Katharina
Quelle: Methoden, Daten, Analysen (mda), 7 (2013) 3, S 397-432
Inhalt: "Onlinebefragungen zählen mittlerweile zum Standardrepertoire vieler Forschungsinstitute, einige methodische Fragen bleiben bis dato jedoch noch unbeantwortet. Diese Studie beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, ob durch die Simulation sozialer Präsenz das Antwortverhalten der Befragten beeinflusst werden kann. Mit einem experimentellen Design werden Effekte der sozialen Präsenz auf Nonresponse sowie sozial erwünschtes Antwortverhalten untersucht. Dabei wird davon ausgegangen, dass die Implementierung sozialer Präsenz den Vorteil einer erhöhten Teilnahmebereitschaft und den Nachteil von sozial erwünschtem Antwortverhalten mit sich bringen kann. Der inhaltliche Schwerpunkt des Experiments liegt auf Einstellungen zu Sexismus, Geschlechterrollen und der Berufstätigkeit von Frauen. Zur Simulation der sozialen Präsenz werden Fotografien verwendet. Zusätzlich zum Effekt der sozialen Präsenz wird untersucht, ob das Geschlecht und die Attraktivität der auf den Fotos gezeigten Personen einen Einfluss auf das Antwortverhalten haben. Bei diesem Effekt handelt es sich um eine Art 'Gender-of-Interviewer'-Effekt. Bezüglich der Teilnahme- und Antwortbereitschaft konnten keine positiven Effekte nachgewiesen werden. Die Ergebnisse hinsichtlich möglicher Interviewereffekte in Form von sozial erwünschtem Antwortverhalten sind nicht eindeutig, es tauchen aber systematische Unterschiede zwischen den Experimental- und der Kontrollgruppe auf." (Autorenreferat)
Inhalt: "Today, online surveys belong to the standard instruments of most survey research institutes, but some methodical questions are still unanswered. This study deals with the question of whether the simulation of social presence has an effect on the response style. Using an experimental design, the effects of social presence on non-response and socially desirable answers are tested. We expect social presence to lower non-response but to induce socially desirable answers. Topics of the survey are attitudes towards sexism, gender roles and the participation of women in the labor market. Social presence is simulated by pictures of the 'investigators' of the study. In addition to the effect of social presence, the study investigates whether the gender and the attractiveness of the person on the pictures have an effect on the answers. This effect might be called a 'gender-of-interviewer'-effect. Concerning the non-response rate no positive effect of social presence could be found. The results with regard to social desirability and a possible gender-of-interviewer-effect are ambiguous but show significant differences between the control group and our experimental groups." (author's abstract)
Sozial erwünschtes Antwortverhalten bezüglich der Teilung häuslicher Arbeit: die Interaktion von Interviewergeschlecht und Befragtenmerkmalen in Telefoninterviews
Titelübersetzung:Social desirability and response bias in case of the division of household labour: the interaction between gender of the interviewer and respondent characteristics in telephone interviews
Autor/in:
Klein, Markus; Kühhirt, Michael
Quelle: Methoden, Daten, Analysen (mda), 4 (2010) 2, S 79-104
Inhalt: "Der Beitrag untersucht den Einfluss des Interviewergeschlechts auf das Antwortverhalten von Befragten bezüglich der Teilung häuslicher Arbeit in telefonischen Interviews. Aufgrund einer Diskrepanz zwischen öffentlich vertretenen egalitären Geschlechterrollen und der noch immer geringen männlichen Beteiligung an der Hausarbeit wird auf Basis von Rational-Choice Argumenten erwartet, dass männliche Befragte bei weiblichen Interviewern sozial erwünscht antworten und ihre Beteiligung an der Hausarbeit überschätzen. Dagegen ist anzunehmen, dass Frauen ihren relativen Anteil an der partnerschaftlichen Hausarbeit eher unterschätzen. Interviewereffekte des Geschlechts sollten bei weiblichen Befragten jedoch geringer ausfallen als bei Männern. Da sich vor allem junge bzw. gebildete Befragte egalitärer Rollenvorstellungen bewusst sind, sollten vor allem diese Gruppen anfällig für derartige Interviewereffekte sein. Für männliche Befragte entsprechen die Ergebnisse weitestgehend den Erwartungen, wobei das Interviewergeschlecht in Abhängigkeit vom Alter des Befragten die stärkeren Effekte zeigt. Für weibliche Befragte zeigen sich über alle Altersgruppen und Bildungsabschlüsse dagegen keine signifikanten Effekte. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen, dass sozial erwünschtes Antwortverhalten auch bei Auskünften über konkretes Alltagshandeln auftreten kann. Hinzu kommt eine beträchtliche Heterogenität der Effekte über unterschiedliche Bevölkerungsgruppen." (Autorenreferat)
Inhalt: "In this paper the authors examine the impact of the interviewer's gender on respondents' self-reported share of housework in telephone interviews. Due to a discrepancy between modern, egalitarian gender roles dominating public discussion and men's marginal participation in housework they expect male respondents to answer in a socially desirable way and exaggerate their share of housework vis à vis female interviewers. At the same time, they assume that female respondents underreport their contribution to the couple's housework to female interviewers. The effects of the interviewer's gender should be less strong in case of female respondents than in case of male respondents, though. Additionally, theory suggests that young and educated respondents are particularly susceptible to effects of the interviewer's gender as they are most aware of egalitarian gender roles due to their socialization and environment. For male respondents the results are largely consistent with the expectations. However, the effect of the interviewer's gender varies stronger by age than by education. Regarding female respondents the results do not indicate any significant effects across age groups and educational degrees. Overall, the results show that social desirability may also bias self-reports of everyday behaviour. Moreover, interviewer effects vary considerably between different social groups." (author's abstract)